


let's not waste time feeling wrong

by surviving_and_thriving



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alcohol, College AU, M/M, Pining, a bitch (me) is back in the IT fandom, creepy ex boyfriends, cute cute first date things, fake dating (for like a scene), fluff fluff fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-03-31 00:08:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19038349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surviving_and_thriving/pseuds/surviving_and_thriving
Summary: Eddie Kaspbrak doesn't think he has any chance with Richie Tozier.  He should probably think again.





	let's not waste time feeling wrong

**Author's Note:**

> written as part of a fanfic exchange (@it2ficexchange) :)

Eddie firmly believed that today had to have been the worst day in the history of the entire world.  Ever.

To be fair, however, Eddie said that about almost every day of his school career.  But today was a particularly ‘go home and sleep because this day needs to be over’ type of day.

To start off, he was late to his 8 a.m. Ethical Theory lecture after sleeping through his alarm.  Even worse, in that class, he was removed from the classroom after getting into an argument with another student.  Eddie guessed he should be glad he didn’t get a referral. To add on to an unfortunate day, he had forgotten his swipe card when sprinting out of his dorm in the morning, so he couldn’t even get food before having to go to his next three classes, so Eddie went the day starving.  Then, to top everything else off, after the shitty school day, Eddie had to walk home in the pouring rain, because, guess what? He had forgotten an umbrella in his dash out of the door that morning.

As soon as Eddie got through the door to his dorm, he threw his backpack against the wall and went straight to his bedroom.

Eddie was deeply immersed in his Tumblr feed, exacerbating his sour mood by listening to angry music, when Bill, his roommate, called from the living room.

"Eddie, do you care if Bev comes over to study?  We’re going to make some dinner."

He yelled back, "Nah, that’s fine."

Bill poked his head in Eddie’s door.  He was wearing an evil grin, which made Eddie sit up and close his computer.  Bill was planning something.

"Hey," Bill started innocently enough.  "Richie is coming as well. You should come out of your room.  Say hi."

After dropping that bomb, Bill vanished from the doorway, cackling loudly.

Well, shit.

Bev is Bill’s girlfriend.  As such, she comes over all the time, so Eddie was used to it by now.  The problem is that Richie was coming too. Eddie considers Richie one of his closest friends, but that hasn't stopped him from developing a huge crush on him.  Any reasonable person would be over him by now since Eddie has been in love with Richie since middle school, but no, he still gets butterflies anytime someone says Richie’s name.

So the moment Bill alerted Eddie to Richie’s imminent arrival, he sprung to the mirror to see just how bad he looked.

After a quick evaluation, Eddie decided he could have looked worse.  Yeah, his hair was a mess, but why should he even try. Richie wouldn’t ever be interested in him.

A knock at the door to his dorm alerts Eddie to the fact that he must have been staring in the mirror in self-pity for longer than he thought because Richie (and Bev, he reminds himself, Richie is not the only person in Eddie’s life) have arrived.

In a snap decision, Eddie decided that he could not leave his room.  He simply did not look presentable enough.

"Eddie, come out here and say hi!" Bill called.

Fucker.

Eddie took a deep breath and opened his door.  He promised himself that he would keep cool, but that all went out the window when Richie smiled his signature smirk and said two words:

"Hey, Eds."

"Don’t call me that," was all Eddie could say in response.

"Why don't you two hang for a while and we’ll let you know when dinner's ready," Bill said.

Both Eddie and Richie began to sputter at the thought of being left alone in a small room.  It had never been an issue in the past, but being in college, alone with no parental interference, brought a new dynamic to the relationship between the two boys and Eddie wasn’t entirely sure how to handle it.  

Nevertheless, Eddie opened his dorm door wider to allow Richie to enter the room.

The two boys sat in dead silence for a few minutes, while Eddie prayed that whatever god was up there would allow him to turn invisible and escape this situation.

Richie had never been this quiet before, so Eddie thought that Richie must have picked up on the shift in the vibe of their relationship.

Richie broke the silence, his voice startling Eddie from his thoughts.  

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick.  Be right back."

"Okay, it’s over there," Eddie pointed to the hallway. "You probably already knew that, but--"

He trailed off into silence.

As soon as Richie had left the room, Eddie pulled out his phone and texted Stan.

 

t _o: stan stan the man_ send help to 618 Lakeview Residence Hall asap please and thank you

 _from: stan stan the man_ Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How?

 _to: stan stan the man_ HE is in my dorm room

 _to: stan stan the man_ like, he is in my room.  RIGHT. NOW.

 _from: stan stan the man_ I cannot believe you still havent done anything.  Eddie, it has been approximately 17 forevers. Do something.

 _to_ : _stan stan the man_ i absolutely will not

 

Richie came back from the bathroom before Stan responded to Eddie’s last text.

"Hey, how were your classes today?  Wild weather, right?" Eddie asked, trying (and failing) to look normal and spark a reaction from the other boy.

He gave me a weird look in response.

"Yeah?  Are we talking like old men now?" he adopted a ridiculous falsetto before continuing.  "The temperature was a little too chilly for my fair complexion. I fear I may have tarnished my good looks."

With that joke, Eddie and Richie fell back into the old rhythm.

All too soon, Bill and Bev gave the dinner call and we went to the living room to eat as college students so often do: on paper plates with storage boxes as our tables and one communal knife.

Bev and Richie left soon after, and Eddie retreated to his room and flopped on his bed.

He looked at his phone and was greeted by no less than sixteen texts from Stan, most of them tame, and at least twenty from Ben that were quite obscene.  He rolled his eyes before sending Ben the middle finger emoji and responding to Stan.

 

 _to: stan stan the man_ none of those things happened stan

 _from: stan stan the man_ Not even a little hand-holding action?

 _to: stan stan the man_ why are you like this? no, the closest we got was sitting three feet apart

 _from: stan stan the man_ Oh Eddie, my hopeless romantic. I’m telling Ben you still haven’t acted upon this, and he will take drastic action.

 _to: stan stan the man_ don't patronize me. im gonna go lay down and sleep to forget all of my woes

 _from: stan stan the man_ Night :)

 

And with that, Eddie fell asleep.

* * *

 

The next school day wasn't as bad as the previous one, considering it was a Friday and Eddie didn’t have a horrendously early 8 a.m. lecture.

In fact, it went relatively smoothly until lunch, when Richie walked by the table Stan, Ben, and Eddie were eating and Ben screamed Richie’s name, then ducked, leaving Eddie to awkwardly wave and kick Ben under the table.

"Can you not?" Eddie asked Ben angrily, once Richie had waved, confused, before leaving.

"Drastic action," he said.

"I really have no chance," Eddie stated. "Just leave it alone, please."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Ben said and winked.

Eddie scoffed at the idea.

"All I'm saying," Stan said, "is don't write off the possibility."

"Yeah right," I said, before picking up my tray and heading to my next class.

The remaining class periods passed incredibly slowly for Eddie, but he was finally free after what seemed like an eternity.  As soon as he stepped off campus, his phone buzzed with a text from Ben.

 

 _from: BEN and jerry’s_ Party tonight at some girl’s apartment. You're coming with me.

 _to: BEN and jerry’s_ you know I hate social situations

 _from: BEN and jerry’s_ Please? I'll be there with you.

 _from: BEN and jerry’s_ You might even have fun.

 _from: BEN and jerry’s_ Plus Mike will be there and I want to get Stan his man tonight.  You won’t make a move and I have to get my entertainment somewhere.

 

Eddie really couldn't say no to Ben, not only because he is one of Eddie’s best friends, but also because he was actually interested in seeing how the Stan and Mike situation played out.

So he reluctantly accepted and found himself in an unfamiliar apartment at 9 p.m. clinging to Ben’s side, holding a red solo cup filled with Goldfish instead of alcohol.

"This isn't so bad, right?" asked Ben.

"I think that the couple in the corner might actually injure themselves by making out that much, but at least there's food right?" Eddie replied, and Ben simply laughed.

"That's the spirit."

As the night went on, Eddie found himself separated from both Ben and Stan.  The party was dark and loud. This was the cliche college party scene in a movie, with the loud club music and the crazy lights and a fuckton of alcohol.  And it was totally not his scene.

Eddie recognized about half of the people packed into the girl’s apartment, but he felt judged by the other half.  He had never talked to any of them and most of them were looking him up and down to see if he passed their tests.

He looked around at the people surrounding him and started to panic a little.  Eddie focused on slowing his breathing as his eyes scanned the crowd for anyone he knew well enough to talk to.  His eyes picked up on a head of bleach blond hair moving through the crowd. It was headed straight for him.

At first, he was relieved.  Someone here knew him.

That feeling quickly disappeared when he realized who was attached to that bleached hair.

Victor Criss.  

Also known as the boy Eddie dated for one week before realizing that Vic was not the kind of person he wanted to be associated with.  Vic, however, never seemed to fully understand that they were no longer together. Whenever Vic spotted Eddie in public, he would try and coerce Eddie back into a relationship.  

This time looked no different.  Vic was moving through the crowd with a determined look in his eyes.

Out of the corner of his eye, Eddie spotted a familiar mop of curly brown hair.

Without thinking, Eddie grabbed Richie’s arm and pulled him over.

“Please go along with this,” Eddie pleaded.

Richie’s eyes widened, but he nodded.

Eddie squeezed his eyes shut and pulled Richie’s face down to his and kissed him.

Eddie didn’t expect Richie to deepen the kiss, nor did he expect to feel Richie’s hands thread their way into his hair.

Eddie combed his fingers through Richie’s hair, reveling in the silky texture of the curls.

They finally broke apart.

Eddie saw Vic’s form leaving the apartment and he sighed in relief.

He relaxed for a moment before he realized what he had just done.

“Holy shit!” he exclaimed, turning to run away.

However, to his complete surprise, Richie stopped Eddie in his tracks, by saying "Eddie, wait."

Eddie turned, expecting a disgusted face and a request to never come near him ever again.  Without letting Richie talk, Eddie started to rapidly apologize.

"I'm really sorry about earlier," he said. "It was just, you know how Vic is and I really didn’t want him to see me alone and try anything, but you were there and I trust you.  It was stupid and I shouldn't have done it, but I promise it will never happen aga--"

Eddie never got to finish his sentence because there was another set of lips on his.

Richie kissed him.

He stood there, absolutely stunned.

When they broke apart, Richie immediately went red and started talking.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have interrupted you," he said, "But I just couldn't stop thinking about the kiss and I guess it was just an impulse. You see, I've liked you for a long time, and--"

"Wait," this time Eddie interrupted Richie.  "You like me?"

Richie relaxed and returned to his usual suave self.

"You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that," he laughed.

Eddie recognized that this was the part in their love story when he was supposed to confess his love for Richie, but all he could manage was a breathless, "wow."

Both boys looked at each other in silence, reliving what had just happened.

Richie finally broke the silence.

"Look," he said, “Let me take you on a date, so we can do this properly.  It sucks that this all came out at a stupid party. Does next Saturday work for you?"

"Yes," Eddie said, still completely dumbfounded.

"Okay, I'll text you."

Richie smiled, kissed Eddie on the cheek, and walked downstairs.

Eddie continued to stand there, dumbfounded.

* * *

For Eddie, the week leading up to his date with Richie could not have passed slower.  Of course, Ben and Stan freaked out when Eddie told them what had happened, and a decently large argument broke out over who was to take credit for all of it.

Eddie was too stubborn to agree with either of them, but he knew that none of it would have happened if it weren't for the constant meddling from the other two.

Eddie looked forward to Saturday more than anything he ever had before, and when the day came he was a ball of nerves from the moment he woke up.

Richie was due to pick Eddie up at 6:00 p.m., but Eddie knew that on Richie time, 6:00 p.m. translated to 6:30 p.m., maybe even later.  

As Eddie was getting ready, he faced a crisis.  His hair was a mess, his outfit didn’t look quite right, nothing was going the way it should.  He felt a mess until the moment there was a knock on the door.

Eddie could swear his heart stopped for a moment.  He managed to walk out of his room and opened the door to Richie standing outside, leaning against the doorframe, holding a bouquet of flowers.

"Oh wow, you didn't have to get me these," Eddie said.

"Nah, it's the least I can do for you agreeing to go out with me tonight.  Plus, I wanted to. You like flowers and I like seeing you happy."

Richie was invited inside while Eddie put the flowers in a vase.

"Well they're very pretty," Eddie said.   "Thank you".

Richie smiled and helped unwrap the flowers.

“So,” he started, “I was thinking we could go to the cheesiest date location ever."

"And where would that be?" Eddie asked.

"How does dinner and a movie sound?"

Eddie laughed.

"Absolutely perfect.  Let’s hope there aren’t 1,000 other couples there as well.”

Both boys laughed.

Richie took Eddie’s hand and led him outside to his beat-up pick-up truck.

They got to the restaurant and had a great dinner.  The conversation was effortless, nothing like the one in Eddie’s dorm room earlier.  Even though Eddie had liked Richie for years, that night only confirmed all his wildest dreams.

When the bill came, Richie offered to pay, but being the dork he was, he discovered that he didn't have his wallet.  Eddie could tell Richie was embarrassed, but, thankfully, they both laughed it off and Eddie didn't mind picking up the check.  The boys left the restaurant and walked to the theater.

The movie wasn’t anything special, but it gave Eddie plenty of time to just enjoy being close with Richie.  Halfway through the movie, Richie took his hand and Eddie’s stomach erupted with butterflies when he laced his fingers with Eddie’s.

Eventually, the movie ended and they made their way back to his car, but instead of heading home right away, they sat in the parking lot and continued to talk with the radio playing in the background.  When the conversation slowed, Eddie realized that he had left some things unsaid at the party the week prior.

"Hey,” he started.  “I just want you to know that I like you too, a lot, actually.  I've had a crush on you since sixth grade, but I was always too afraid to tell you."

Richie broke into a wide grin.

"Well, that's a relief, because if not this date would have ended awkwardly," he joked.

"You know,” Eddie began, “I don't think we've ever had a proper kiss. Like, in a non-‘Oh shit my creepy ex is here’ setting."

"Well, we’ll have to change that, won’t we?"

And with that, Richie leaned in and kissed Eddie in a way he had never been kissed before.

Richie drove Eddie back to his dorm after.  They drive back was filled with loud and bad sing-alongs to the greatest hits of Queen.

When they pulled up outside Eddie’s dorm building, Richie shut the engine off in his car, but he made no move to get out of the car.

“You going to walk me up, Mr. Chivalrous?  Or do I have to face the danger outside the dorm alone,” Eddie joked.

Richie turned his head and smiled.

“Just don’t want tonight to end.”

Richie did end up exiting the car eventually and walked Eddie to his doorstep.

Both boys paused before Eddie opened his door and went inside.

Richie grabbed Eddie in a hug where they stood for a few moments.

"I had fun tonight," confessed Eddie.

Richie made a noise of agreement.

Eddie took a deep breath and then just went for it.

"Do you maybe want to do this again and then actually go out?"

Richie laughed and Eddie could feel Richie’s body shake against him.

"Yes! Of course!’’

After Eddie and Richie kissed goodnight, Eddie finally let himself into his dorm.

If Bill saw him pump his fist in victory, he kindly did not mention it, only slightly raising his eyebrows at Eddie’s swollen lips the next day as he sipped his coffee.


End file.
